By Jessica Robison
Moapa Valley Progress
Published June 30, 2010
The Moapa Valley Fourth of July celebration will be held this weekend and the whole community is invited to the festivities! Since the Fourth occurs on a Sunday this year, the celebration will be extended over two days. The traditional activities and the fireworks display will be held on Saturday, July 3 and a special devotional program will be held in the evening on Sunday, July 4.
“We are excited that the celebration will be expanded and will occur over two days this year instead of just one,” said Moapa Valley July 4th Celebration Committee Chairwoman, Jacqulyn Pray. “It’s an opportunity to accommodate the entire community in the celebration and to celebrate the Fourth like we’ve never done before in the community.”
The theme of this year’s celebration is “We the People”. Charlie Cooper and Robert Smiley came up with ten ideas for the theme that they thought would be best. They then gave them to the committee members who voted on which one they preferred and “We the People” won.
“I think it goes hand-in-hand with the feelings of many Americans right now,” Pray commented.
The activities will begin on Saturday morning at the fairgrounds. The Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion posts will perform a Flag Raising Ceremony at 7:00 a.m. to start out the day. Then the annual community breakfast sponsored by the Rotary will follow immediately thereafter at 7:30.
After breakfast, the fun for the kids begins with a mysterious the Candy Surprise at around 9:00. “I won’t say what’s going to happen because it is supposed to be a surprise,” Pray said, “But Joe Perez is in charge of it so you know it’s got to be good.”
After that, the water games will begin. Kids will be able to participate in a variety of cool summer games. Later, at around 10:30, the volunteer firefighters from stations 72, 73 and 74 will arrive with their water hoses to engage each other in enormous water fight with community members welcomed to cool off right in the middle of the field of battle.
As soon as everyone is soaking wet, there will be a community watermelon bust at around 11:00, sponsored by the Overton Senior Center. That will conclude the morning activities.
Later in the evening, everyone will meet again at the fairgrounds. The veterans organizations will have a Flag Retreat beginning at 6:30 p.m.
This will be followed by a complete dinner provided by the Moapa Valley Chamber of Commerce.
At 8:30 pm a July 4th program will begin. During this program, the Moapa Valley Spirit award and the Moapa Valley Service Spotlight Award will be presented to recognize those who have influenced and served their community. State Senator Lee will also be on hand to present a proclamation recognizing the long-held tradition of July 4th celebrations in the Moapa Valley.
The Fourth of July Program will last until it is dark enough for the fireworks display; around 9:15 p.m.
“We did not cut back on the fireworks this year,” Pray said. “We bought the same amount as last year even though the price went up.”
For fundraising, the Committee has been collecting donations with jars and going to local businesses asking for money. Also, a small amount of the money earned from celebration t-shirts goes to the fireworks.
“In this economy, I strongly felt that I did not want to cut one more thing,” Pray said. “It gives a sense of stability. It’s the one thing that hasn’t changed.”
But the fireworks display is not the end of the festivities this year. On Sunday evening at 6:30 p.m., another event will be held at the Overton Senior Center. There will be music and speeches. Robert W. Smiley, Jr. will give a speech called “We the People” that he has been working on for the entire year, said Pray. An 18-minute Academy Award Winning Movie called “Declaration of Independence” will also have a screening. Afterward, there will be refreshments.
“I am looking forward to having everyone come out and celebrate and honor our nation’s independence and our forefathers,” Pray said. “If people show up and have a good time, it makes everything worth it.”
